


Bella Giornata

by LibKat



Series: The Goldenpaws AU [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV), Lady and the Tramp (1955)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Lady and the Tramp (1955) Fusion, Day 3 - Summer Solstice, F/M, Fluffier than a Golden Retriever puppy., JB Week 2019, Jaime/Brienne Appreciation Week 2019, Puppies!!!!!!!, They are still Golden Retrievers, Totally shmoopy!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-15 13:03:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20866679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibKat/pseuds/LibKat
Summary: The sequel nobody asked for to the Lady and the Tramp AU that nobody asked for last year.





	Bella Giornata

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hardlyfatal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hardlyfatal/gifts), [Laura1013](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laura1013/gifts), [Renee561](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Renee561/gifts).

> This work is gifted to HardlyFatal, Laura1013, and Renee561 because they are simply wonderful. 
> 
> This a short sequel to the fic I wrote last year for JB Week. It’s one of my favorite things that I’ve written, mostly because it felt so weird when I got the idea, but turned out really well. You really do need to read it to understand what’s going on.
> 
> Bella giornata means beautiful day in Italian, as opposed to Belle Notte from the movie.
> 
> Disclaimer: A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones and these characters belong to a whole bunch of people who are not me. I will return them undamaged when I am finished playing with them.

JB Week 2019

Day 3 – Summer Solstice

Bella Giornata

“How’s Brienne doing?” Tyrion asked from the other side of the fence.

Little Podrick, who had become Tyrion’s shadow as they explored the neighborhood, jumped and twirled about. “Puppies!” he cried out. “I love puppies!”

Jaime smiled in spite of himself as he watched Podrick bounce with joy. He’d felt the same way when he learned he was going to be a father. Well, he’d felt the same way underneath the overwhelming terror.

That was a while ago.

“Ahhhh, Jaime? Brienne? How is she?” Tyrion asked again.

“She’s … well … she’s kind of insane,” Jaime answered truthfully. “She spends most of her time in the pen that GrumpyDear built for her in the place where they keep the extra food. Sometimes she wants me there with her, but as soon as I come in, she tells me to go away. And then she whines for me to come back. I can’t seem to do the right thing anymore.” There was more than a bit of whine in Jaime’s tone, too.

“Ah, they put the whelping pen in the pantry. That’s a good place for it. Close enough to the kitchen to be warm, but not overly so.” Tyrion spoke with the wisdom of someone who had fathered several litters of pups, though none of the mothers had been his mate. 

“She’ll stare and stare when she’s inside the pen and then she’ll move one thing a little, tiny bit and flop down to rest. Then she’ll move the same thing right back to where it first was a few minutes later. She yells at me if I come into the pen with her because I’ve messed up her perfect placement. She’s, she’s … I don’t understand her.”

“She’s getting the pen ready. Won’t be long now until the pups come.” Tyrion’s eyes were kind, but also condescending.

“How would you know? You weren’t even there when any of your puppies were born,” Jaime reminded him.

“I visited before and after. My human is very sentimental over my offspring and always wants to be sure everything is going well, and see the pups after they’re born.”

Podrick bounced some more. “The last litter was very cute. They licked my nose and called me Uncle Podrick. Do you think SerMyLady’s puppies will call me that, Jaime? SerMyLady … I mean Brienne is going to be the best mother ever! Her puppies will be so lucky!”

Jaime tried not to be exasperated with the little Yorkie, but Podrick seemed to forget that the puppies were just as much Jaime’s as they were Brienne’s.

“I’m sure they will Podrick. You, Tyrion and Selmy can all be honorary uncles.”

Jaime took a minute to imagine adorable, wriggly, little balls of golden fluff. They would all be beautiful because Brienne was the most beautiful thing in the world to him. They would all be smart because she was the smartest dog he had ever met. And they would all be charming because they were his puppies, too. Life was going to be perfect.

Once they got here.

Brienne had done well with her pregnancy for the first month. She was so amazed, so happy that she would get to be a mother in a happy home with a mate who adored her instead of alone and abandoned on the street the way she had once feared. But as the pups grew inside her and began to weigh her down, she reverted to the irritable and impatient Wench Jaime had first met in the woods at the start of the adventure that changed both their lives.

GrumpyDear understood how things were for expectant fathers. He would bring Jaime into the workshop during the day and take longer than usual walks at night. He gave him more brushing and petting, which had been LittleBird’s job in the past.

“Don’t fret, Jaime boy,” GrumpyDear would say. “It’s hard work bringing children into the world. There’s not much that we can do for our ladies, but say yes when they want us and stay out of their way when they don’t.”

Jaime tried to take this advice to heart, but he wasn’t always successful. He wanted to know what Brienne was thinking and feeling and experiencing every minute. Sometimes she was happy for him to ask and would nuzzle up against him and let him feel their puppies moving in her belly. Jaime loved those times the most. Other times she would almost growl at him and push him away.

“You want to know how I’m feeling, Jaime? Do you, really? I have the wind all the time, one of YOUR puppies is bouncing on my ribcage, if I get any bigger, my teats are going to scrape against the ground, and it’s the middle of the hottest summer in years! _That’s _how I’m feeling.”

Jaime had spent a lot of time out in the yard the last week or so.

Tyrion continued to share his vast knowledge while Jaime had mused. “She’s nesting, my boy so that the pen will be ready for the whelping. When it’s time, you can come on over to our house and Podrick and I will keep you company.”

“Not be there?” Jaime shook his head in dismay. “I have to be there when the puppies are born. Brienne will need me.”

“As you say, my friend. But if you find you want to be somewhere else, or _your missus_ wants you somewhere else, you know where to come.” Tyrion gave a jaunty shake to his head. Then he and Podrick meandered on down the street to Selmy’s house.

***

The sun was staying up very late today. Jaime had lain down next to Brienne’s pen to watch over her while she tried to sleep, but she kept rolling around, trying to find a comfortable position. When she had rolled over onto her back, all four long legs sticking up in the air, the sides of her belly seeming to writhe all on their own. Jaime had just barely managed not to laugh. He knew he’d be sleeping in the yard for a long time if he’d done that.

With a growl, Brienne struggled to her feet, attacking the blankets and towels that LittleBird had so lovingly placed in the pen and that Brienne herself had spent so much time arranging and rearranging.

“Not right. Not right! NOT RIGHT!” Brienne growled as her paws clawed at the coverings right down to the newspapers below the layer of cloth.

Brienne!” Jaime tried to get her attention. “WENCH!”

Brienne looked at him, her blue eyes almost wild.

“What’s wrong? Tell me so I can help!”

“This isn’t good enough, Jaime! It’s not good enough for our puppies!”

“Then we’ll fix it. We can do anything together, remember.”

“Jaime,” the wildness had left her eyes, and they were soft and loving again, the eyes of Jaime’s mate. “Jaime, I’ve been so awful to you. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright, Wench. I’m glad you weren’t afraid to be awful. It means you believe I’m going to stay with you forever.” Jaime ducked his head and peeped at his mate through his long eyelashes.

“I do. I do believe, Jaime. I believe in … OWWWWWWW!” Brienne gave out a long, loud moan.

Jaime couldn’t stop himself and jumped into the whelping pen with her. She was panting hard; her head lowered almost to the ground. “Wench! What’s wrong?”

She looked at him again like she looked at him on their first days together, like he was the stupidest dog ever to wag a tail.

“I’m having your puppies! Go get Sandor and Sansa!”

“NOW? You’re having the puppies right now? But I don’t want to miss it.”

“It’s going to take a while, Ser Goldenpaws! You can run out to the parlor for our humans. You won’t miss a thing, except for my bad language. Now, go!”

Jaime nuzzled his face against his mate’s and was a little surprised by how affectionately she returned it. Then he gave a mighty leap out of the pen, sending blankets and newspaper flying.

“Jaime!” Brienne yelled at his tail as he raced into the kitchen.

Jaime paid no attention to his mate’s angry shout. She’d rearrange the blankets and everything at least a few more times if the past few days were anything to go by.

His frantic barking roused his humans from their lazy afternoon in the parlor, playing with their own pup. MaidenPup began to fuss at Jaime’s loud voice, and GrumpyDear barked a command to pipe down.

As she had always been in the past, LittleBird was more attuned to Jaime than her mate was. “Go check on Brienne, my grumpy dear. It might be her time. I’ll take Edie to Nan and join you in a minute.”

***

Time had slowed to a crawl as Jaime watched Brienne pace and whine and bark with pain. She sat and then laid down and then rose to pace some more. The sun still had not set on this oh so long day. Jaime stayed with her even when she ordered him out. He resisted when LittleBird had taken him by the collar and tried to budge him. GrumpyDear had stopped her.

“He should be here. Remember how the maester tried to keep me away from you?”

LittleBird laughed her tinkly laugh. “He said he’d never been so afraid that a father was going to take a swing at him.”

“And we don’t want Jaime ‘taking a swing’ at either of us. Let him stay. Brienne is going to do almost all of this herself. We’re only here in case something goes wrong.”

Jaime’s ears perked at that. What could go wrong? Nothing would! He would make sure of it. His mate and their puppies were going to be fine.

“You hear me, Wench! You are going to be fine! You’re going to do this yourself and nobody, no dog ever whelped is better, more competent than you.”

Brienne looked at Jaime with tired eyes.

“You survived on the streets with nobody to help you. You kept me alive when I didn’t know anything. You faced The Monster and The Mean Boy and who’s still here? You are, that’s who! You are … Wench, what are you doing?” Jaime broke off his rousing pep talk when his mate squatted in the middle of the pen. “You can’t do your business in here. Our puppies are going to be born here!”

Brienne raised her head and looked at him with that special, exasperated expression that she saved just for him. “I’m NOT ‘doing my business’, you … you male! I’m having one of those puppies RIGHT NOW!” 

Brienne turned so that Jaime could get a good look at her hindquarters (which looked very like when she did her business), and there, sliding out of his mate, was a slippery, slimy sack of something.

GrumpyDear reached a long arm over the side of the pen and guided the sack to the ground, clearing some of the slimy covering away with a towel. Jaime was frozen as Brienne turned and began licking the little form within the sack frantically. The form started to move and make tiny squeaking sounds. Brienne and Jaime breathed out simultaneous sighs of relief.

The first of their puppies was here!

Brienne continued to lick at their little one until she began to grunt and groan again. GrumpyDear moved the first pup out of her way, lifting it to look at its underside then putting it in front of Jaime.

“You’ve got a little lass there, Jaime. We papas do love our baby girls. Don’t let her get cold now.”

“Go on!” Brienne ordered in between her moans.

Jaime took a deep breath and let his tongue give a single, tender lick to his … his daughter. When she wriggled a bit and squeaked at him, he hopped right over the railing into the birthing pen. He laid down next to his pup and vigorously licked for all he was worth, though staying gentle with his sweet baby girl. 

As Brienne birthed pup after pup, Jaime helped her lick their offspring clean before allowing GrumpyDear and LittleBird to take them and rub them dry. When each pup was cleaned to LittleBird’s satisfaction, she tied a ribbon around its neck to show whether it was male or female. In the end, he and Brienne were the proud parents of five daughters and two sons.

Her voice shaking with exhaustion, Brienne said that ratio sounded about right since Jaime required much more looking after than she did. Surely his boys would be the same and need their sisters to keep them in line.

As the sun finally set on this long day, Jaime lay curled up with his dozing mate as their brood nursed. Their first girl was already showing an adventurous side and tried to crawl her way up the mountain of her mother’s side. Jaime would let her get so far, then the minute she started to squeak in distress, he would bring his girl back safe to her mama and her brothers and sisters.

This little girl was going to be trouble.

But that’s another story.


End file.
